Watching Flipturn’s performance at the Novo last Friday, it would be challenging to imagine the band’s start as three high school students. Dillon Basse, Tristan Duncan, and Madeline Jarman formed the band their senior year of high school in Fernandina Beach, a small town in northern Florida. Basse leads vocals for the group, Duncan plays guitar, and Jarman is on bass. The band’s indie rock sound includes two more members who joined the original three later on – Mitch Fountain plays guitar and synth while Devon VonBalson is on drums.
The group’s two early EPs, Heavy Colors and Citrona, provide several fan-favorite songs that were featured in Friday’s set such as “August,” “Chicago,” and “Nickel.” Flipturn’s third EP was released in 2020 titled “Something You Needed.” The group’s more recent releases are their 2022 debut album “Shadowglow” and 2025 record “Burnout Days,” of which the setlist was primarily composed. The group rose in popularity following their opening acts for Mt. Joy and Rainbow Kitten Surprise: a line stretched up a staircase to buy their merchandise and fans throughout the crowd were spotted wearing Flipturn apparel. The crowd dressed in distinctly Southern Californian attire, aligning with the indie-surf-rock style of their music.
The group opened with “Burnout Days” from their latest album, Juno, released in January of 2025. They continued with two more songs from Juno and played their title track “Burnout Days” followed by “Inner Wave.” The strong guitar and drums in these tracks offered an energetic start to the set. Basse’s vocals offered a raw and emotional contrast to the smoother, more consistent instrumentals played by the band. The lyrical complexity of Flipturn’s songs was interesting in a live setting, as many crowd members chose to focus their attention on listening to the lyrics rather than joining in singing alongside the band.
The next two songs moved backwards in the group’s discography. The band started with “Sad Disco” from their 2022 Shadowglow, and continued to work backwards by playing crowd-favorite “Glistening” from their 2020 EP Something You Needed. Notably, the group limited the number of songs they selected from their EPs, choosing to focus the set on more current releases. As a result, the few older songs that were selected were highly popular, recognizable tracks that evoked palpable excitement from the audience.
The following six tracks played were from Burnout Days: “Rodeo Clown,” “Whales,” “Moon Rocks,” “Reason to Pretend,” “Sunlight,” and “Tides.” The group paused with their Burnout Days focus to play “August” from their 2018 EP Citrona before resuming with four more tracks from their 2025 album. “Right?,” “Window,” “Swim Between Trees,” and “If It Is” offered an ever deeper dive into the group’s latest work. The album offers a highly emotional and introspective lyricism coupled with catchy instrumentals that create great live music. While the songs are easy to dance to, they also offer more lyrically-focused audiences strong conceptual elements.
The final three songs before the encore were Flipturn’s 2020 release “Burn,” followed by two 2022 releases “Playground” and “Space Cowboy.” These recognizable tracks raised audience energy and left the crowd on a high before they exited the stage. The group’s encore featured four of their older songs. The final songs began with “Burn” and “Weepy Woman” off their 2022 Shadowglow album. VonBalson performed a drum solo in “Burn” to begin the encore. He carried a large percussion drum to an audience member center-crowd, handed the instrument to the fan to lift mid-air, and proceeded to play a solo performance for the song. This change of pace served as a great transition into the final moments of the set. “Chicago” from Flipturn’s 2017 album Heavy Colors was the penultimate performance, channelling more intense energy and passionate vocals. The final song was “Nickel” from the band’s 2018 record Citrona. This song was both an optimistic and conclusive note to end the set on, bridging the divide between audience and performers as the group joined in on the chanting sections on the song’s chorus.
